Precipice
by Madartiste
Summary: Clowning around can be dangerous work, and Natsu finds he is definitely not ready to confront the concept of Lucy's mortality again. (Nalu)


_**Summary:**__ Clowning around can be dangerous work, and Natsu finds he is definitely not ready to confront the concept of Lucy's mortality again. (Nalu)_

_**Author's Note:**__ More drabbley fluff! And a bit of action and drama. There are some spoilers for the Grand Magic Games arc, so if you haven't either watched (up to episode 190) or read that yet, you might want to back away._

_**Author's Note (More): **I can't take credit for the premise because it was inspired by a fic I encountered on FF net back when I first delved into the wild lands of Nalu fanfic. Sadly, I assumed the plot bunny that was born would wither and die without me ever writing it down, so I stupidly didn't note the name of the fic. If anyone knows of a story where Lucy is hanging off a cliff with Natsu teasing her, _please _send me a PM so I can give proper credit. Hopefully the author will feel like this is enough my own work inspired by their super awesome piece and feel more flattered than wrathful._

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><p>Running as fast as her legs could possibly carry her, Lucy screamed, "They didn't say it was THAT big!" The enormous beast chasing her sideswiped one of the crumbling buildings, causing it to collapse in on itself with a rumble and cloud of dust.<p>

When the elder of a nearby village had described the creature that was terrorizing the area and devouring women, he had really neglected to fill in all the important details. Like the fact that it was crazy huge with tusks as long as she was tall and an attitude like a really pissed off Erza. Why had she agreed to this mission again?

"You're doing great, Lucy! Just keep going!" Natsu called, jogging far behind. "Man, they were right. That thing really DOES prefer girls."

"Well," Happy said, floating along beside the dragon slayer, "Lucy does have a bit more weight around the middle, so she'd probably be tastier than you or me."

"I HEARD THAT!" the girl shouted back at them, just barely dodging a swipe of the monster's claws. It whiffed over her head and took out part of a wall, showering them both with brick fragments. "Aren't you going to fight this thing?!"

Navigating through the alleys strewn with rubble in the abandoned town, Natsu finally had to start lengthening his stride to keep up with his fleeing teammate and the pursuing creature. "Nah, you're doing fine! Just keep running towards the edge there!"

Swinging it's huge head in an attempt to gore the girl with it's tusks, the monster managed to clip Lucy in the side and caused her to stumble sideways. She grunted from the impact, scraping her knees when she went down on all fours. Nearly out of breath, the celestial spirit mage scrambled back to her feet to keep running towards the cliff at the end of the town before the beast had a chance to redirect itself.

"Oh shit!" Natsu poured on a bit more speed when he saw Lucy drop momentarily. As amusing as her caterwauling had been, he really didn't want her to get hurt. "You're right there!" he yelled.

Indeed, Lucy found herself at the edge of the cliff, a rock strewn beach beneath. Hearing the monster charging from behind, she threw herself to the ground and felt the whoosh of displaced air as the behemoth's momentum carried it past her. The earthquaking bellow it made as it plunged over the precipice set her ears ringing. A loud crash sounded the end of the menace, followed by an eerily still silence.

Cautiously, the girl raised her head, realizing just how close to the edge she was. Lucy peered over to look at the shattered corpse of the creature on the ground far beneath her. She gulped, feeling unsettled and a bit nauseous. With shaking limbs, the wizard pushed herself up to stand. For a brief instant she felt a prickle of optimistic relief.

Which was when the ground caved under her feet.

The weight of the monstrosity had weakened the cliff's overhang, and Lucy suddenly found herself free falling. She twisted her body and desperately grabbed for whatever was in reach, fingers scraping against the rocks as she tumbled. Her arm was abruptly wrenched when her hand caught in a tangle of old, dry roots, and Lucy held on for dear life.

Looking up, she saw Natsu's panicked face hanging over the ledge with Happy sitting on top of his head. The dragon slayer stared down for a moment before suddenly breaking into a grin. "That was close!"

She glowered at him. "Help me up!" Now that she was no longer plunging through empty air, Lucy could tell she'd fallen about a third of the way down the bluff. This whole thing had been one of his insane ideas anyway. The least he could do was pull off a last minute rescue.

"Nah." He just beamed at her. "I think you should let go."

"Wha… WHAT?!" Lucy shrieked. Her arms were starting to shake from the outpouring of adrenaline and strain of holding up her own weight. "I swear, if you don't pull me up RIGHT NOW -"

"She's really loud, Natsu," Happy chimed in, and the celestial wizard practically spit in fury.

The pink haired boy laughed merrily. "She sure is."

Sucking in a noisy breath, she hollered, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Lucy's sandals scrabbled to find purchase, but the rock kept disintegrating under her soles. "This is your fault, Natsu! Please! Please…" Fear was starting to get the better of her as her sweaty palms began to slip, and she whimpered at the sight of her fingers shifting down the dirty roots. Lucy couldn't even loosen a hand enough to grab for her keys.

"Lucy." She looked up at him again, taking in his calm expression and unconcerned posture. "Don't you trust me?"

Swallowing the bitter saliva produced by her terror, Lucy nodded jerkily. Yes, she DID trust him, probably more than she did anyone else. Which is what made his refusal to help her all the more painful.

"Then let go." He smiled warmly. "Nothing bad will happen. I promise you'll be fine." Taking in her skeptical features, he stressed, "I promise."

"Wha…" She could scarcely believe what he was saying. The fall would kill her for sure! But… He promised. Natsu had never let her down when it really counted and had never allowed her to come to serious harm when he could at all prevent it. Against any scrap of logic she possessed, Lucy forced her fingers to unclench from the roots and let herself drop.

Her feet connected with solid surface just a few inches below, and she wobbled gracelessly for a second before regaining her balance. Glancing down, Lucy realized there was a man made platform jutting out from the rock face that she had landed on. Though it was partially broken and it wasn't possible to discern it's original purpose, it certainly served to keep her from falling to her death. Relief was replaced by rage in an instant when she heard the sounds of cackling laughter above her.

"You jerks!" She glared as hard as she could up at chortling feline and dragon slayer. If she'd had some kind of eye magic, they probably would have spontaneously combusted from the power of her anger. Instead, they just whooped in amusement.

"Oh man! Your face!" Natsu used a calloused thumb to swipe away laughter produced tears. "That was so good. I told you it'd be fine."

Furious, Lucy snarled at the two. "I can't believe you guys! Do you know how scared I was?! Of all the things -"

She stamped her foot in an impetuous fit of pique, but was shocked at the feeling of the rock giving way. Toppling backwards, arms windmilling, Lucy could only gaze helplessly up at the startled faces of her friends as she plummeted off the crumbling platform. Natsu's eyes grew huge with horror, and he reach out a futile hand that would never be able to bridge the distance between them.

Like he was shot out of a cannon, Happy leapt from the dragon slayer's pink head and sped towards the falling girl on magic wings. The exceed seized her by the front of her shirt and pulled back with every ounce of strength he had. The two came to a halt with Lucy's toes just inches from the rocky beach.

"Oh… My God…" the celestial mage whispered unsteadily. "Holy cow, Happy… You saved me! Thank you!"

"Aye…" The cat's voice sounded just as jittery as hers while he flew them both back to the top of the cliff. Gently, he set the female mage down and dropped to the ground himself. The poor blue cat looked exhausted from the sudden burst of stress, and Lucy bent over to scratch him behind the ears in gratitude.

The girl straightened after a moment, still a bit shaken, and looked over to where their companion had been. Natsu was on his feet now, just staring at her with his jaw hanging open. "Heh… Sorry about that. Didn't mean to scare everyone…" she said sheepishly.

The fire dragon slayer slumped like a string in his spine had been cut, dropping to his knees as his legs gave out from under him. Natsu grasped at his hair with his fingers, pulling hard enough to cause a bit of stinging pain that did nothing to cut through his fuge. His brain had simply shut off rather than cope with the narrowly avoided catastrophe. Doubling over, he laid his forehead against the cool ground and tried to swallow the bile that rose into his throat. The wizard's stomach felt like he'd been punched in the gut after riding a train for three straight days.

"Natsu… It's okay." Concerned, Lucy approached and laid a soft hand on his shoulder. "We're okay. Come on now." He looked up sharply, and his dark eyes were full of unimaginable anguish. Gasping in surprise, she took a stumbling step back.

Sucking in a few slow breaths, Natsu forced his fingers to unclench from his rosy locks. He wound his arms around his aching stomach and sat back on his haunches, still gazing up at her with a desolate expression. "I… I promised…"

"What?" Lucy looked confused, and perhaps a little frightened. His behavior was strange and kinda scary. "Are you okay?"

Natsu's hand snapped up to cover his mouth, and he struggled to swallow again. The giddy, panicky thought that he might actually vomit on poor Lucy pushed its way into his mind, and he couldn't help the hysterical little giggle that erupted.

"Wow, okay," she said, "You're starting to freak me out a little here. Just tell me if you're alright."

The wizard's giggles suddenly came out as a single, small sob. "I promised… that you'd be fine! You… you…"

Starting to realize that he was blaming himself, Lucy sighed and laid her hand back on Natsu's tense shoulder. "It's okay." She could feel him shaking. This was so uncharacteristic of her friend that Lucy was feeling more than a little disturbed. "I'm okay. This wasn't your fault."

He surged to his feet, seizing her upper arms with his scorching hands. "You could've DIED!" The intensity of Natsu's dark eyes had her leaning away. He was always unpredictable, but this was something altogether different. "I was just screwing around and you… I couldn't stop it! I was useless, and I almost…almost…"

"Hey, hey! This isn't like you. You can't get wrapped up in what might've happened," she scolded. "That kind of thinking will just drive you crazy."

He stared hard at her for a long, rigid moment before finally whispering, "I promised, and I almost lost you again…"

Blinking slowly, Lucy tried to wrestle with the statement. Lose her? Again? What did he…

All at once, she recalled the prone form of her future self, blood dripping into the cracks between the stone tiles of the floor. Natsu desperately reaching out his hand in a vain attempt to stop a blade made of shadow from striking her down, just missing by finger widths. The hellfire fury and tears in his eyes when he turned on the smug, power mad version of Rogue. "Oh… Oh," she said lamely.

Pushing forward against his iron grip, Lucy slid her hands around his torso. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed heavily, breath tickling his bobbing adam's apple and her nose brushing his scarf. "It's okay," the girl repeated. "I'm here. I'm not leaving. You haven't lost me, and you never will." Smiling softly against his collarbone, Lucy could feel his racing heart start to slow. "Have some faith in me, Natsu. I'm pretty tough."

He laughed then, even though it sounded a touch strained. Letting his fingers glide down her arms to settle at her waist, he breathed, "Yeah, I know. Sorry."

"And I'm here to help, too!" Happy cried, having been deeply concerned by his human best friend's sudden breakdown. "I won't let anything happen to Lucy either!"

"I know, buddy," Natsu acceded, relaxing into Lucy's loose embrace. "I shouldn't have doubted you." He nudged the girl's temple with his chin, and she leaned back slightly to look at him. "Will guy guys forgive me?"

The celestial wizard's smile grew, and she said, "Nothing to forgive." Lucy quickly rose up on her toes and kissed him lovingly on the cheek.

The two humans stared at one another in surprise at her impulsive action for a few heartbeats before the blonde stepped back and coughed. She covered her blush with a swish of her hair.

When the fire dragon slayer didn't move after nearly a minute, Lucy cautiously turned to look at him. She was rewarded with a face splitting grin… and maybe just a slight dusting of pink across his face.

"Pffft…" Snapping her head around to glare at the exceed, Lucy saw the blue feline with his paws held in front of his mouth and his eyes dancing with mirth.

"Don't even -" she started.

"You liiiiiiiiiiike each other!" Happy trilled, and the girl sighed.

"Why do I even bother…"

Stepping past the irritated blonde, Natsu peered down the cliff face with a frown. It really was a long way down. Lucy began to wonder if he was starting to stress over their near miss again when he suddenly spoke. "So, I've got a question."

"Yeah?" she asked hesitantly.

He straightened, crossing his arms over his chest and looking thoughtful. He glanced first to the exceed and then to the celestial wizard. "We're supposed to take the monster back to the village in order to get paid, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Lucy said, feeling gleeful at the thought of the jewels she was about to rake in. It would be five months worth of rent! "What's the question?"

"How're we going to get that huge thing back up here?"

"Ah -" Gaping, the girl realized she had no idea. She sagged and groaned loudly. This was really just so unfair…

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><p><em><strong>More Author's Notes:<strong>__ I normally read the manga, but I started getting caught up on the anime recently. The scene of Natsu grabbing for f!Rogue's shadow dagger-thing kind of hit pretty hard. In the manga, I don't think he even had time to move which was pretty tragic to me. But somehow, trying and just FAILING to save her in the anime seems like it might strike poor Natsu even harder. So I thought about it for a while and ended up with this thing._


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